Dive Brief:
- In an interview with the History News Network, Grand View University History Professor Kevin Gannon says Ph.D. students in the discipline are being taught to focus more on research and publishing instead of getting teaching.
- Gannon says this approach is limiting Ph.D. students and graduates in jobs at smaller liberal arts colleges and special mission institutions, where learning and mastery of the content is the primary objective for student training.
- He also says job candidates should be prepared to discuss their vision for helping to grow enrollment through teaching multiple courses, and lay out a vision for improving student outcomes.
Dive Insight:
It is interesting to consider that a major factor in tenure and promotion may be discounted as a potential element of hiring practices for many department chairs and deans. However, it is understandable that schools want to ensure that students are being expertly prepared in a field that requires graduates to be nimble in their professional capabilities, especially as many schools are being squeezed out of support for the liberal arts by low enrollment and a growing STEM imperative.
Provosts, deans and department chairs should consider the ways that they can infuse teaching experience into the doctoral-level training module — perhaps by requiring some teaching as a part of the application process or by creating online teaching certifications as a jumpstart for those students who will seek faculty jobs post-graduation.